Best Books Of 2015

25 Of The Year's Best Books That Are Still Worth Checking Out

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This has been a great year for readers, with important new works released, new talents discovered, and several older voices once again reminding us why we fell in love with them to begin with. If you need inspiration, we have collected 25 of the best books released in the past year, so you can take a chance on that new book you've been reading about and meaning to scoop up.

City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg

Knopf

No single book has generated more hype this year — and certainly no novel since David Foster Wallace's posthumously released The Pale King — than Garth Risk Hallberg's City On Fire, and for good reason: he received an astounding $2 million advance, an unprecedented sum for a first-time novelist. The 900-page behemoth is a sprawling love letter to New York City, revolving around the attempted murder of a young girl and the lives her life has touched. Let's be bold: this is one of the most ambitious English-language novels released in years, an instant candidate for "Great American Novel" status, and a must-read for any self-respecting literature lover.$18.00 at Amazon.com

Ghettoside by Jill Leovy

Spiegel & Grau

Jill Leovy, a veteran Los Angeles Times reporter, released Ghettoside, her true-crime investigative account of murder in Los Angeles, at precisely the time when the nation most needed to have a conversation about difficult subjects like racial profiling, police brutality and gun violence. And boy does this book deliver, with exactly the kind of painful sociological facts and no-nonsense reporting needed to force the wider public to examine the senseless brutality of America's inner cities and the pain they have disproportionately inflicted on America's black communities.$8.80 at Amazon.com

The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector

New Directions

Clarice Lispector is perhaps Brazil's most important writer, but you can be forgiven if you've never heard of her: her works have only recently been widely translated into English. Part of that project has been The Complete Stories, collected in English for the first time in this volume, which means you have the opportunity to be among the first to appreciate the stories that made her a minor celebrity in her native Brazil. What are you waiting for?$21.41 at Amazon.com

Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Spiegel & Grau

It has been a good year for Ta-Nehisi Coates. After winning a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, in recognition of his powerful writings on race in America, he won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for his Between The World And Me, which takes the form of a letter to his teenage son detailing his experiences as a black man — a "black body" — in the United States. The "beautiful struggle" has not had a more eloquent expounder since James Baldwin.$14.40 at Amazon.com

Dancing In The Dark (My Struggle: Book 4) by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Harvill Secker

If, at the start of the 21st century, you would have told me a series of autobiographical nonfiction novels named after Hitler's heinous manifesto Mein Kampf would become an international literary phenomenon, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. And yet here we are, in 2015, and the world has still not had its fill of Karl Ove Knausgaard or his haunting memoirs.$12.54 at Amazon.com

On The Move by Oliver Sacks

Knopf

If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Oliver Sacks, who tragically passed away earlier this year from cancer, then allow me the pleasure of introducing you to one of the greatest modern science writers and a man whose life has been an inspiration to his legions of fans. On The Move is his memoir, the first time he trained his keen intellect on his own life rather than the lives of his patients, and it is a wonderful testament to the kind of person he was – relentlessly curious, single-minded, kind to a fault – and the incredible life he led: as a neurologist, a writer, and an amateur powerlifter.$16.63 at Amazon.com

Purity by Jonathan Franzen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

For better or worse, Jonathan Franzen is the face of American literature, the man whose off-the-cuff remarks, essays and novels inspire the kind of polarizing opinion that generates interest (and high sales numbers), and so it's nothing short of a minor event when he releases something new. And in many ways, Purity is his most ambitious novel to date, a continuance of the multiple-narrators and generation-spanning ambitions that are the hallmarks of The Corrections and Freedom.

The Story Of The Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

The fourth and final installment of Italian writer Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels arrived in English translation earlier this year, and has cemented her status as a living legend, a writer demanding to be read — if only because you will miss out on all the grown-up table talk during the holidays.$9.90 at Amazon.com

Sick In The Head by Judd Apatow

Random House

If, like most people, you love to laugh, you've probably accumulated a list of favorite comedians, and if you're like most Americans, you have probably spent countless hours watching Judd Apatow's work (Freaks & Geeks, or Knocked Up, or The 40-Year Old Virgin). Sick In The Head collects his conversations with comedians that inspire him, from Seinfeld and Jon Stewart to Chris Rock, Harold Ramis and Roseanne Barr, and the result is part-comedy, part-memoir, and a glimpse into the worldviews of some of the biggest names in comedy.$16.55 at Amazon.com

Thug Kitchen by Thug Kitchen

Rodale Books

If you're big on entertaining, or would like to be, there's no better time to get your hands dirty then just before the holiday season, and there's no better book to prepare you to host a lavish get-together than Thug Kitchen.$14.99 at Amazon.com

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Orbit

Science fiction fans are a discerning bunch, and if the renewed interest in Mars exploration is any indication, human beings have a seemingly limitless appetite for space exploration. Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora, set some 500 years in the future, imagines a future in which human beings have not only explored the outer reaches of our solar system but colonized it, and the result is pure science fiction perfection, a perfect balance between narrative drama and scientific wonder.$14.85 at Amazon.com

Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

Disney Lucasfilm Press

Whether you're looking to get a leg up on your friends before the Star Wars: The Force Awakens premier, or whether you're just an avid fan of all things Star Wars, Claudia Gray's Lost Stars is the necessary background reading to appreciate the direction J.J. Abrams is taking the franchise in. Spoilers ahead, to be sure.$9.89 at Amazon.com

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Harper

It's been many decades since Harper Lee's classic To Kill A Mockingbird rocked the world, and we have been patient long enough. Go Set A Watchman was one of the year's most anticipated books, and would make an excellent gift for the reader in your family.$15.00 at Amazon.com

Submission by Michel Houllebecq

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

It seems that it is Michel Houllebecq's fate to court controversy: France's best-known author appeared on the cover of Charlie Hebdo the very day its paper was attached by masked gunmen, and his novel Submission, which prophecies a dystopian future for France, quickly sold a half-million copies. It is now available in English, and continuing to spark outrage and thoughtful debate — even among those who haven't read it.$13.75 at Amazon.com

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg

Penguin Press

Aziz Ansari is on a roll in 2015, and Modern Romance — his investigation into the interaction between technology and love — is just further proof. Ansari and Klinenberg, a sociologist and co-author, interviewed hundreds of people, both in person and on Reddit, and the result is an insightful, funny and sometimes sobering look at our modern vision of romance.$17.37 at Amazon.com

The Big Bad Book Of Bill Murray by Robert Schnakenberg

Quirk Books

There's hardly a man in his 20s today who wouldn't enjoy this sweeping appreciation of Bill Murray's life and work. It is unofficial, in the sense that Murray had no direct involvement in the book, but it's nonetheless deeply personal, an account of one man's ongoing infatuation with one of America's funniest men.$12.61 at Amazon.com

Cuban Cocktails by Ravi DeRossi, Jane Danger & Alla Lapushchik

Sterling Epicure

You don't need to travel all the way to Cuba to get an appreciation for their rich cocktails. This book's authors have done the legwork for you, assembling 100 cocktail recipes guaranteed to impress your friends and ease the post-dinner conversation this holiday season.$19.15 at Amazon.com

Lafayette In The Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell

Riverhead Books

If you aren't already familiar with Sarah Vowell from her writing, you may know her as the voice of Violet Parr in Pixar's The Incredibles. But then you'd be missing out on an exciting writer indeed. Lafayette In The Somewhat United States gives us the account of a young French aristocrat, the famous Marquis de Lafayette, as he joins forces with George Washington in the Revolutionary War, and it is by turns insightful, funny and fascinating.

Killing And Dying by Adrian Tomine

Drawn and Quarterly

With novelistic ambitions and an artist's spirit, Adrian Tomine explores grief, shame and humiliation, and the family dynamics that can inspire these feelings, in graphic novel Killing And Dying. You may have encountered Tomine's work before, in the New Yorker or in his Optic Nerve comic series, but Killing And Dying deserves a reading all its own.$12.88 at Amazon.com

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

Scribner

Miranda July's first novel The First Bad Man is an unqualified success, a quirky tale about a plain woman in her 40s working in a non-profit women's defense studio who is surrounded by the vapid language of "self-actualization" and — she can't help but notice — often used by people who couldn't be more self-absorbed. Few novels can manage to devastate and disgust at the same time, but that is a feat July manages with ease.$11.40 at Amazon.com

Drinking The Devil's Acre by Duggan McDonnell

Chronicle Books

One of San Francisco's many attractions is its rich drinking history, and Drinking The Devil's Acre is the homage the city deserves, a look into its history and culture and the cocktail and cocktail parties that made it famous.$18.08 at Amazon.com

The World Beyond Your Head by Matthew Crawford

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Most days, we would tell you to avoid self-help books like the plague, but every once in a while one emerges that deserves your attention, and Matthew Crawford's The World Beyond Your Head, about the surprising ways our modern culture is undercutting our ability to grow as individuals, is such a book.$17.10 at Amazon.com

SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki

Drawn and Quarterly

Jillian Tamaki's SuperMutant Magic Academy may seem like a mashup of Harry Potter and X-Men, but the end result is something far quirkier, far more original. And underneath the superpowers and mutations, the recognizable conflicts of your youth come flying out at you, vividly portrayed in the writing and the illustrations.$15.60 at Amazon.com

Saving Capitalism by Robert Reich

Knopf

In the age of Occupy Wallstreet and growing income inequality, Robert Reich dares to envision reform rather than revolution, offering a quieter solution to the oligarchs and crony capitalists that should be read by anyone serious about creating a more equal future.$20.23 at Amazon.com

Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver

Scribner

New York City is notorious for many things, and one of those, unfortunately, is the brutal realities of dating there. In this laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays, Isaac Oliver riffs on the complications, the missed connections, the failed attempts at intimacy, and because we are so often laughing, we almost forget to cry.$15.27 at Amazon.com